NEW YORK: United States President Donald Trump slammed Nordstrom department stores for treating his daughter Ivanka "so unfairly" by discontinuing her fashion line.
Nordstrom announced last week that it would no longer carry Ivanka Trump's line of clothing and accessories. Nordstrom said that it decided to part ways with her products "based on the brand's performance."
The President went on Twitter to defend his daughter who is also a close White House adviser.
"My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person, always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!" he tweeted.
The tweet lit a fire under the President's critics who've criticized his refusal to satisfy ethics experts by completely separating himself from his business dealings. While ethicists say he needed to sell off his companies in order to ensure he won't financially benefit from his presidency, Trump has left control of the Trump Organization to his two sons, Eric and Donald Jr.
Larry Noble, the general counsel of the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan organization of election law experts, said Trump's tweet was "totally out of line."
"He should not be promoting his daughter's line, he should not be attacking a company that has business dealings with his daughter, and it just shows the massive amount of problems we have with his business holdings and his family's business holdings," Noble said.
It was later determined that Trump had used his @POTUS to retweet the Nordstrom slam.
"If he was any other government employee, this would be illegal," Noble said.
He was referring to a law that exempts the president from conflict of interest laws. But Noble said that for Trump, the principle of the conflict of interest rule should still apply.
Some Twitter users used the platform to blast Trump's comment.
Actor and filmmaker Ron Howard said the tweet "trivialises the office and suggest he prioritizes family enterprise and monetary gain."